October 03, 2010

The Bears' blockers are who we thought they were

The Giants sacked Jay Cutler nine times, forced him to fumble three times, intercepted him once and gave him a concussion.

He’s not dead yet, but give his blockers time.

How pathetic was the Bears’ blocking? The Giants were missing their leading sacker, and they still slaughtered Cutler, ending his night after 30 minutes because of a concussion.

What kind of joke was the Bears’ blocking? A guy with a bad knee had three of the sacks in just 22 minutes. Everybody gets healthy against the Bears’ line, huh?

Those nine sacks in the first half tied the Bears’ record for a game. The Bears’ blockers got whipped, beaten, pantsed, exposed and ruined. Probably treated for windburn, too. Now we know why Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell snubbed the Bears for an interview: He didn’t want to coach a good Bears defense, he wanted to coach against a disastrous Bears offensive line.

Look, if super-sized Brandon Shamumaleuna can’t block, what’s he good for? Frank Omiyale, same question. Heck, all of them, same question.

To think, the Bears’ utter and embarrassing inability to block came when the defense was nails. Four times the Giants had the ball in Bears’ territory in the first half, but the defense allowed only a field goal. Still, never did a 3-0 deficit look so lopsided.

And when the Giants roared 90 yards in eight plays to make it 10-0 in the third quarter, the Bears’ inept blockers had claimed its drained defense as another victim.

The Giants’ assault required the type of changes in game plan and line personnel the Bears showed in Dallas. Running plays, shorter patterns, different blockers. But all the blockers were in there –- and out of there -- so it was on Mike Martz to tear up half the playbook. Bears’ dink-and-dunk was better than New York’s search-and-destroy.

The Bears did try some things. Screens to slow the Giants’ aggressiveness. Running the ball to buy time on passing plays. Max-protection. Yeah, they tried, and they failed like few Bears offenses ever. Jeez, you’d think Jonathan Quinn was running things.

And how angry did you get when you heard Bears coach Lovie Smith say after the game that the Bears are 3-1 in the first quarter of this season? The Bears were 3-1 last season and missed the playoffs for the third straight year.

Oh, and I don’t want to forget to blame Jerry Angelo for part of this, too. He didn’t suit up, he didn’t walk the sidelines, but he also didn’t make the offensive line better. Or even decent. The line was the biggest question coming into this season. Now it might be the greatest culprit in ending it.

Don’t kid yourself, this a devastating loss because it was so winnable and so costly The defense gave the Bears a chance. The Giants’ special teams tried to give the Bears the game. But the offensive line and tight ends killed all hope. They killed Cutler, killed the defense, probably killed NBC’s ratings, and maybe killed the season.

I mean, if the Bears treat Cutler’s concussion as diligently as they treated Hunter Hillenmeyer’s by putting him on injured reserve for the season, then forget it. Without Cutler, it’s wait till next year. Todd Collins? Jeez, the guy couldn’t even finish the game, and when he was in there, he didn’t look rusty as much as he looked retired.

And you, everybody who dismissed the Bears’ limp running game in the glow of one of the worst-looking 3-0 records in a while, now what?

This Bears offensive crud is going to the playoffs?

Smith denied the Bears were making players more accountable this season. Really? Then who benched Desmond Clark one game after he dropped a TD pass?

First play -- no, before the first play, Omiyale commited a false start. Hey, at least he didn’t allow a sack.

Bears third-and-10 at their own 49 in the first quarter, and Cutler underthrew an open Devin Hester down the sideline. What looked like a touchdown in a scoreless game instead became a punt. And then Cutler’s brain got turned into oatmeal.

Giants first-and-10 at their own 30, and Israel Idonije sacked Eli Manning. Hey, look! A sack!

Julius Peppers forced Manning into a fumble that Brian Urlacher recovered with five minutes to go in the first half. First play, Cutler was sacked again, natch.

Corey Graham is making a bid for Pro Bowl special teamer.

Hester retuned a punt 35 yards to the Bears’ 45 in the last two minutes of the first half, but the Bears were flagged for holding. 'Course.

But wait. There’s more. After losing 40 yards because of the penalty, the Bears had to burn a timeout with 1:41 to go. Four games, and they haven’t learned how to line up?

The Bears didn’t reach New York territory until more than five minutes had elapsed in the second half, and on the next play, third-and-1, Matt Forte was thrown for a loss. Maybe he thought it was fourth-and-goal.

Zack Bowman, benched a week earlier, ripped the ball out of Ahmad Bradshaw’s arms at the Bears’ 10 and fell on it at the 1 with seven minutes to go. The difference between 17-3 and 10-10? Ha! Forte got nothing, Collins had a pass slapped down, and Forte got one yard. The Bears didn’t even want to try. Heck, they couldn’t, not with a creaky quarterback and a non-existent running game. Then, two plays after a bad Brad Maynard punt, the Giants indeed made it 17-3 with 4:31 to go. Drive home safely, folks.

Comments

2 -3 sacks maybe Cutler held on too long, but 6 sacks he would have had anyways! Thats way too many. Collins got knocked out. Not to mention Haine was sacked also. No matter who is at QB, we won't do anything with that very slow OL. SAme problem we have had for many years. The only difference from our super bowl run a few years ago, Hester was returning all our kicks, our LB's were making every tackle, and we actually had a good set of RB's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Talk about just plain giving up in a game. Still, got to give the D credit. They kept the Bears in the game. However, if you can't score, it does not matter how good your D is if the other team finds ways to score. With that said, every player on the O line needs to be reevaluated. Non performers need to be benched. Get those new guys in there. What could it hurt, heck the opposing team still gets through the O line even with the starters in there. They also need to release Collins. Granted, he was thrown into the mix but is he not an experienced NFL quarterback? He looked like a guy just holding the fort until the game whistle was blown. Send him packing and find anotehr free agent out there. All of us think that the 3 wins they have is a fluke. At best, they should be 2-1 going into NY. How do they go on after this disaster? Yeah, they are 3-1, but they are the worst 3-1 team in the NFL. Would you not want to be in the locker room to hear Lovie's end of game speech. Most certainly he told them that "we are 3-1" speal. If Cutler is out, than kiss this season goodbye. If he is out for a few games, still kiss the season goodbye.

After watching this unmitigated disaster, what must the Packers and Cowboys be thinking? Are we really that bad that this stinking Bears team beat us? I've been watching the Bears a long time, but this as bad as I've ever seen. Wow.

Someone in the Bears organization should explain to the fans what was the cause of loss to the Giants, and more importantly, why no remedy was found or used to correct such an embarrassing performance by the Bears. Don Lucas

The TV companies were exposed on National TV tonight. The NFL is
just their latest reality show.

It was a computer game. The Bears snapped the ball and the linemen
just seem to disappear from the screen. It had to be done
electronically. It seemed like 3 blockers and 5 Giants defenders in
the backfield using some sort of computer animation. You have to watch
the replay in super slow motion to catch it..

The whole NFL has been exposed as a fraud. There are no players. The
announcers are just voice over actors reading prepared script. It's
all done with computer graphics. But this time the designers screwed
up. The TV networks have been caught in this lie. So don't worry
about a player's strike. The game is being played in some Silicon
Valley complex by highly sophisticated programmers. and ??? has
developed the hardware.

.This game was the first use of this new technology. Which I can say
is not ready for prime-time The programmers went a little overboard
to impress the bosses. but the bugs will be found and eliminated. It
took someone like me to catch it. So "TV programmers" can refer to
schedulers and the hidden manipulators of the new reality. The future has
arrived.,

Two minutes to go in the fourth, we knew we were beat. Lovie knew we were beat, let's not use any timeouts to further humiliate us. Giants knew we were beat and could have scored another touchdowm but took pity on us and took a knee as to say we've have conquered you, go home you've had enough.

About the author

They tell me I have to write this bio thing to go along with my blog. Not sure you care, but the bosses apparently do, so here you go:

I've covered sports for more than 30 years in print, on radio and now in cyberspace. In that time, I've smoked cigars with Michael Jordan, Mike Ditka and Red Auerbach, I've been thrown on a table by NHL all-time bad boy Dave "Tiger'' Williams, I've covered the Super Bowl, NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals, I've had former Bears lineman Stan Thomas act like he was going to squeeze my head like a zit, I've interviewed Roger Clemens, Hank Aaron and Donald Trump, I've been cursed at by Mike Keenan, I've watched Denis Savard go into the Hockey Hall of Fame, I've been yelled at by Bill Wirtz, I talked sports with Ben Affleck at the World Series of Poker, and I cry almost every time I see Jim Craig skate up the ice looking for his dad in the stands as the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team wrote the greatest sports story ever. Ever.